Role of NSPs
- Scaling up
- Building capacity
- Collective action
Types
Functions

Scaling up

Mobilising broader civil society involvement in prevention, care and impact mitigation, or 'scaling up', entails two types of strategies: mobilising more CBOs and NGOs to get more involved to ensure effective implementation, and providing support for existing organisations to expand current activities.

The first component involves encouraging and supporting more NGOs and CBOs to get involved in implementing prevention, care and impact mitigation projects. This might mean them advocating for more or better services from public providers. It might mean them playing a role in existing services to take programmes out to the community, or make them more accessible and responsive to the people who need them. Or in many situations, it might mean the actual provision of services themselves, such as voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

NGO support providers (NSPs) have a critical role in supporting NGOs and CBOs to implement quality, integrated approaches which recognise that prevention, care and impact mitigation are all essential and mutually reinforcing. Additionally, by working within a national HIV/AIDS strategy, NSPs can support NGOs and CBOs to identify and respond to gaps in the national response, particularly with respect to highly affected and marginalised groups of people. (see Strategic planning)

The second component concerns expanding or scaling up effective action on HIV/AIDS. Scale-up in practice means that more groups become involved, and a wider range of services is offered, ensuring the greatest possible reach. NGO support providers can contribute to scaling up both local and national responses to HIV/AIDS by supporting the scaling up of their partner organisations’ activities. (see Partner and project selection) This can be achieved in various ways, including:

expanding organisational size and/or scope
using cascade and multiplication models in which intensive training and programming can be delivered; for example, training of trainers, where relatively small groups of individuals are trained who in turn go on to train larger numbers of people; or cascade programming, such as models of provision of care and support
identifying effective programme approaches that can be adapted or replicated by others through documentation and communication work, exchange visits and other means
building strategic partnerships with institutions working in different ways or different sectors
integrating HIV/AIDS into wider public health, human rights and development work
catalysing and supporting others through technical, organisational and financial support
decentralising services so that decision making and coordination is transferred from a central location to a more local level.

Issues to consider

NSPs can actively promote scale-up as a vital aspect of the global response to HIV/AIDS and facilitate the exchange of information on the scale-up of NGO/CBO HIV/AIDS work among local, national and international stakeholders.
NSPs should ensure that in mobilising broader civil society participation, attention is paid to increasing not only the quantity but also the quality of the response. This requires that NGO/CBO mobilisation strategies are focused and attain good coverage. Programmes should be appropriate to the local context, targeted at key populations, of a consistently high standard, sustainable, and have measurable impact.
A key strategy for the scale-up of HIV/AIDS work is the integration of HIV/AIDS into broader development work. This means that NSPs must work with and provide support to a wide range of organisations, e.g. reproductive health, human rights, development organisations and institutions, e.g. government, trade union, media and teaching institutions.
NSPs may want to pay particular attention to jointly defining and discussing scale-up at the start of their partnerships with NGOs and CBOs. This should help build trust by ensuring that both sides have a clear idea of existing capacity and a common understanding of future expectations.
As programmes are scaled up, there is often a tendency for NSPs and donors to overload some NGOs and CBOs, particularly those who are doing good work or showing potential. NSPs need to take into consideration the absorptive capacities of different NGOs and CBOs and ensure that they are not stretched beyond their programmatic or organisational capacity.
NSPs need to recognise that competition often occurs among NGOs and CBOs, as well as amongst NSPs. NSPs can play an important role in helping to promote and foster constructive relationships among their partner organisations.